Unless the article says anything other than, "because emotionally-stunted asshats wanted a 'big, mean' dog so they had 'rep,' and thus treated their pit bulls like shiat," I couldn't care less what the article says.

xanadian:Unless the article says anything other than, "because emotionally-stunted asshats wanted a 'big, mean' dog so they had 'rep,' and thus treated their pit bulls like shiat," I couldn't care less what the article says.

xanadian:Unless the article says anything other than, "because emotionally-stunted asshats wanted a 'big, mean' dog so they had 'rep,' and thus treated their pit bulls like shiat," I couldn't care less what the article says.

Yup. There is a guy in my neighborhood who walks around wearing a beater and sporting a short mohawk and a chinstrap.

He has two dogs, one a large male, unneutered cane corso named Shogun. The other, a 7-8 month old female pitty named Kitana.

My dogs "cousin" is a pit-mix and they get along great but people need to respect what the dog is capable of and what they were originally bred for.

Unless I know the dog, I don't let my dog near pits or other similar breeds.

FTFA: The dogs that are born into and raised in this environment are victims; they are beaten, electrocuted, chained, starved and even fed gunpowder to make them tough and mean. Those that don't fight back enough are killed or used as bait.

So in other words, the breed (or group of breeds) has been bred for 30 years for violence and aggression, and now legitimately deserves the reputation that used to be unfair. It sucks for the dogs, but pretending that it isn't true doesn't do anybody, including the dogs, any favors.

Not all breeds of dog make for good pets. Dalmatians come to mind, they are good dogs in ways, but unless I had 100 acres and horses, I wouldn't try it. They need to run about a third of the day to be healthy, a coupla walks up to the park a day just won't cut it.

I expect this thread to be full of well-reasoned arguments and civil discourse just like any Fark thread relating to Pitbulls, circumcision, gun-control, Tim Tebow, Sarah Palin, police brutality, and anything on the Politics tab.

Huck Chaser:FTFA: The dogs that are born into and raised in this environment are victims; they are beaten, electrocuted, chained, starved and even fed gunpowder to make them tough and mean. Those that don't fight back enough are killed or used as bait.

So in other words, the breed (or group of breeds) has been bred for 30 years for violence and aggression, and now legitimately deserves the reputation that used to be unfair. It sucks for the dogs, but pretending that it isn't true doesn't do anybody, including the dogs, any favors.

Boll Virtuoso:I expect this thread to be full of well-reasoned arguments and civil discourse just like any Fark thread relating to Pitbulls, circumcision, gun-control, Tim Tebow, Sarah Palin, police brutality, and anything on the Politics tab.

Romney would strap a pitbull to the top of his Lexus. Make no mistake.

Which is why I'll never understand why my sister in law had a really good purebred Staffordshire Bull Terrier, but a demon animal known as a Miniature Pinscher at the same time. The dogs had night and day demeanors. the staffy just wanted love, and the minpin wanted to eat your face if you got near him.

My doggy is a mix of that staffy and I think an Amstaff. He's a lot bigger than his mother, but not as big as an AmStaff or APBT.

Sorry for the crappy res, but this is him playing very gently with a rescue puppy we fostered for a few days.

Never met a pit bull I didn't like, UNLESS their owners were assholes. Poor f*cking dog. I so wanted to cockpunch those people...

Yeah the only ones I knew that were a problem was because the owner was an ass. The good people I know with them the worst problem you can get from them is getting licked to death.

Not true, sir/madam! A good friend has a pibble which is normally skittish around strangers, but for some reason absolutely loves me. First time I met her, she was so excited-wiggly, I suffered NUMEROUS heavy paw-shots to the junk.

/She later helped me put up my tent in the backyard//By sitting in the middle of it while I tried to run the poles, the blessed idiot///Wow, those sound creepily like sexual innuendos ...

Isn't the issue with Huskys that they still have a good bit of wolf blood in them, and as such if you don't take care of them right they can turn into mean, mean dogs? or increased territoriality because of it or something.

This is true across the board. Unfortunately, the perception of an asshole with a tweezer on a leash is different from one with a drillhammer.

I owned an English Bull Terrier for many years and got some of the "by-blow" of this stupid debate, which had all the intellectual rigor of the "our daycares are full of Satan!" panic around the same time.

A properly trained American pitbull and an English Bull Terrier are fairly close in temperament. They are neither genius nor idiot in the range of breeds, but have a great deal of "spirit" and require...and enjoy, I think...being the "beta" to your "alpha". You must lead this dog: it wants to belong and to be in a family.

They are strong and can be a handful. Certainly they are capable of doing a mischief, but they aren't inherently vicious. A cruel moron can exploit them to make them so, however.

They won't usually start fights but they can damn well finish them, and I had more than one incident where some moron set his dogs on mine, only to pay both our vet bills.

However, if you want a goofy, loyal pet that weighs 50-70 pounds but feels like more, they are a good choice. It's a shame short-cocked retards seem to see them as penis extenders and ball-enlargers. They are just dogs.

Pathman:Sybarite: Dog Attack Deaths and Maimings, U.S. & Canada, September 1982 to December 26, 2011

yeah - you should do a little research of your own into that garbage website, dogsbite.org

I remember reading a site somewhere where they measured the breed's actual temperament, and pits rated somewhere in the middle. The problem with pits is that they're BRED to cause a lot of damage. They have the jaw strength and the teeth for it. So when a pit goes off the deep end, they tend to do more damage than most other breeds.

Huck Chaser:FTFA: The dogs that are born into and raised in this environment are victims; they are beaten, electrocuted, chained, starved and even fed gunpowder to make them tough and mean. Those that don't fight back enough are killed or used as bait.

So in other words, the breed (or group of breeds) has been bred for 30 years for violence and aggression, and now legitimately deserves the reputation that used to be unfair. It sucks for the dogs, but pretending that it isn't true doesn't do anybody, including the dogs, any favors.

No, abused dogs deserve the reputation of being abused and dangerous.

Non abused members of the same breed are happy loving dogs, like all dogs before humans get to them.

xanadian:Unless the article says anything other than, "because emotionally-stunted asshats wanted a 'big, mean' dog so they had 'rep,' and thus treated their pit bulls like shiat," I couldn't care less what the article says.

My coworker is a very caring, intelligent person that had a very nasty APBT that she ended up having to put down after it bit her neighbor. That dog, a rescue, mind you, made her stupid... she'd bring that snarling beast to the office even though it hated other dogs, and she also didn't understand why the neighbor would want it put down.

My neighbor's staffordshire terrier attacked a completely friendly golden retriever that I was watching. This was a real surprise coming from the terrier, given its usual demeanor, but fortunately it had only three legs and the retriever was able to get away from it with only a bit of loose fur lost.

I love dogs but dammit that is true. My dog consumed an entire baby wipe (clean, for once), was sick all day with little throw-ups and #2s, and finally yaks the wipe back up whole. I was forced to grab said wipe, vomit and all to prevent him from re-consuming it immediately. WTF?

Sybarite:Dog Attack Deaths and Maimings, U.S. & Canada, September 1982 to December 26, 2011

Did you post this seriously or ironically?

I have to ask. I mean, the link itself refers to "press reports" as its source.

Take a look at the "media bias" section from TFA: "the ASPCA has reported that animal control officers have been told by media outlets across the country that they only have interest in reporting on Pit Bull attacks."

So, it seems that press reports might not be all that useful if one is interested in tracking "dangerous" breeds.

And to think that I felt like I committed a cross-cultural faux pas when I named my Chow mutt "Kimchi". At least China and Korea aren't separated by oceans and the largest land mass on the planet! (To be fair, she was spoiled rotten. So, Kimchi wasn't entirely inappropriate. Sweetest dog I ever knew, with legs like coiled springs. She was 17 when we put her down last month. Still hurts every day.)

My friend got a pit bull puppy shortly after having her oldest child. Just last year she posted photos of her 4 year old daughter dressing that poor bastard up in a pink feather boa and pink soccer jersey. He sleeps in her bed and if a stranger comes into the house he always makes sure he's strategically positioned to stand between them and the kid. They just had another baby and apparently he's taken to sleeping under the crib now. Those little instincts about protecting the most vulnerable in the pack I guess. He totally is their "nanny" dog.

signaljammer:Not all breeds of dog make for good pets. Dalmatians come to mind, they are good dogs in ways, but unless I had 100 acres and horses, I wouldn't try it. They need to run about a third of the day to be healthy, a coupla walks up to the park a day just won't cut it.

I hate seeing Border Collies in cities. A dog like that needs a sheep farm, a guy whose whistle can be heard a mile away, and four pounds of meat a day. I agree about the Dals.

/have been comically "herded" on Irish and English country lanes.//they aren't canine Einsteins entirely.

xanadian:Pathman: Sybarite: Dog Attack Deaths and Maimings, U.S. & Canada, September 1982 to December 26, 2011

yeah - you should do a little research of your own into that garbage website, dogsbite.org

I remember reading a site somewhere where they measured the breed's actual temperament, and pits rated somewhere in the middle. The problem with pits is that they're BRED to cause a lot of damage. They have the jaw strength and the teeth for it. So when a pit goes off the deep end, they tend to do more damage than most other breeds.

Like ALL hunting dogs. The Pit Bull reputation for viciousness is because they were bred to not have vulnerable necks, which was exploited in dog fighting because necks are what dogs go for. ANY hunting dog will have no problem putting a lot of damage into a similar sized or smaller squishy pink human. My labs are basically throw pillows that deliver themselves to you for petting, and when other dogs growl at them, they are VERY quick to demonstrate how fierce of a show they can put on.